In other words, normative ethics is concerned with and examines moral claims. While metaethics focuses on foundational issues concerning the semantics of moral utterance and how our moral views fit more. The normative level of moral inquiry seeks to ground our moral motivation, reasoning, and justification in the context. Offering more comprehensive coverage of the good life, normative ethics, and metaethics than any other text of its kind, this book also addresses issues that are often omitted from other texts, such as the doctrine of doing and allowing, the doctrine of double effect, ethical particularism, the desiresatisfaction theory of wellbeing, moral. But normative ethics is just a theory about moral values, and theres no circularity in gathering data through intuition in order to be acquainted with the thing one is theorizing about. Boatright is one of the prime movers in the field of business ethics and remains a leading contributor to scholarly debates. The best book for you will depend on your preferred learning style and the amount of time that you want to spend reading about ethics. Just to be clear, there is no single best book on ethics. A second edition of a book from 1966 that is the best concise. Normative issues when nothing is normal public health ethics analysis book 2. The good, the bad, and philosophy normative ethics this video introduces a new series on normative theories of ethics, like deontology, consequentialism, and virtue ethics. Normative ethics is the branch of philosophical ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when considering how one ought to act, morally speaking. Shelly kagan offers a division between moral factors and theoretical foundations that reflects the actual working practices of contemporary moral philosophers. Unfortunately, i have not taught an ethics course in a decade.
The elements of moral philosophy, by james rachels and st. Philosophernovelist ayn rand 19051982 is a cultural phenomenon. Metaethics or metaethics is that part of philosophy concerned with the ultimate status and grounding of ethics, whether in external metaphysical terms, or in internal, psychological terms. A bibliography of online papers in normative ethics.
The philosophy of ethics is the study of the nature of the cosmos and the proper response of humanity to that nature. This video is the first in a series of philosophy videos on normative ethics. Kagans normative ethics is an excellent book for those interested in a contemporary introduction to ethical theory. As a subdiscipline of philosophy, ethics can be divided into two major parts, each part dealing with two of the basic questions noted above.
An 800page scholarly overview is unlikely to be best for someone looking for a short beginnerfriendly introduction, for example. Business ethics and normative philosophy utilitarianism. Normative ethics is the study of what is right and wrong in general. Normative ethics shelly kagan providing a thorough introduction to current philosophical views on morality, normative ethics examines an acts rightness or wrongness in terms of such factors as consequences, harm, and consent. Many philosophers in normative ethics investigate ethical theories the aim of which is to systematically describe what makes acts. Providing a thorough introduction to current philosophical views on morality, normative ethics examines an act s rightness or wrongness in light of such factors as consequences, harm, and consent. Online shopping for ethics philosophy from a great selection at books store. Providing a thorough introduction to current philosophical views on.
Well, political philosophy just is normative ethics about politics. Normative ethics matthew silverstein spring 2008 contact information office. It covers the main and rival approaches to moral theory based on consent, consequences, and harm. Normative ethics is the branch of philosophy that theorizes the content of our.
Michael ridges stanford encyclopedia of philosophy entry on reasons for action. Intended for upperlevel or graduate students of philosophy, this book should also appeal to the general reader looking for a. Providing a thorough introduction to current philosophical views on morality, normative ethics examines an acts rightness or wrongness in light of such factors as consequences, harm, and consent. Shelly kagan offers a division between moral factors and theoretical foundations that reflects the actual working practices. Everything from aristotles ethics to the ethics of ai covered. Course books in addition to the course reader, there are four required books for the course.
Normative ethics by shelly kagan, 1998 online research. Normative ethics, that part of moral philosophy, or ethics, concerned with criteria of what is morally right and wrong. The largest current controversy in normative ethics is how to determine whether a particular act is right or wrong. Consequentialists believe that an act is right if it leads to good consequences or maximizes good consequences. Nb that normative ethics isnt necessarily about objective moral values. Normative ethics normative ethical theories academic room. Normative ethics ebook by shelly kagan 9780429978289. According to david fritzsche, business ethics is the process of evaluating decisions, either pre or post, with respect to the moral standards of societys. Ethics is categorized according to three types of inquiry or study. Read normative ethics by shelly kagan available from rakuten kobo.
Best books on ethics and moral philosophy recommended by eminent philosophers. Books best sellers new releases childrens books textbooks australian authors kindle books audiobooks normative ethics dimensions of philosophy series. Normative ethics as practiced by philosophers is just finding a moral theory on what makes an action right or wrong. The second half of the book then examines the competing theories about the foundations of normative ethics, theories that attempt to explain why the basic normative factors have the moral significance that they do. Normative ethics is also distinct from descriptive ethics, as the latter is an empirical investigation of peoples moral beliefs. Intended for upperlevel or graduate students of philosophy, this book should also appeal to the general reader looking for a clearly written overview of the basic. In metaethics, it focuses on explaining the different kinds of moral realism and antirealism, including the divine command theory, naturalism, nonnaturalism, relativism, nihilism, and. One part of ethics deals with the first two questions about the origins and justifications of our moral intuitions. It then introduces the main issues in the two fields and provides a critical overview of the chapters in the volume. Normative theories and environmental ethics in order to have a fully developed environmental ethics, it is necessary to combine ones preferred axiology with a normative theory that tells us selection from a companion to the philosophy of technology book. It includes the formulation of moral rules that have direct implications for what human actions, institutions, and ways of life should be like. This book is now cowritten by jeffery smith, who is part of a new generation of normative business ethicists. This page contains a list of the best introductory books on ethics.
Introduction metaethics and normative ethics oxford. I have not kept up with developments in terms of available texts, but there are a few books that i think might be appropriate. Normative ethics is distinct from metaethics because it examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions, while metaethics studies the meaning of moral language and the metaphysics of moral facts. The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns matters of value, and thus comprises the branch of philosophy called axiology ethics seeks to resolve questions of human morality by defining concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong. Philosophers analyze metaphysical theory, such as the existence of god, the responsibility of people to others, and the influence of biological impulses, and they try to determine what gives authority to morality and what.
Its most general concerns are providing an account of moral evaluation and, possibly, articulating a decision procedure to guide moral action. Normative ethics news newspapers books scholar jstor august 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message. Normative ethics by shelly kagan overdrive rakuten. The eight best introductory books on ethics the daily idea. It is concerned with the articulation and the justification of the fundamental principles that govern the issues of how we should live and what we morally ought to do. Includes a minimal definition of normative ethics as a whole. Normative ethics dimensions of philosophy 97808308463.
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